In our previous entry, we have seen the rising of Filipino food globally. We are coming to the center stage of global food making. Isn’t that interesting? Here, let us give you a list of what Filipino breakfast might be.
Pandesal and coffee
This is sure to top the list, especially when you ask around rural areas. The elderly commonly rises up early, and the first thing they do is to prepare their coffee and pandesal. Pandesal is a small bread roll that is common among small Filipino bakeries. You will either go to the nearest bakery or wait for that vendor selling it around at early morning. These rolls are warm, especially when fresh from the bakery, chewy, and soft. It is good to eat by itself, but you can also enjoy it by dipping it into your coffee. Before dunking Oreo in milk became popular, this is the trend. Have you tried that? It seems unimaginable, but it is actually good. You can also slice pandesal and put in filling or palaman. There are a lot of fillings that you can use: coconut jam, peanut butter, a slice of cheese, butter, sunny side up or scrambled egg, and Chiz Whiz, a commercial brand of spread. See, this is just pandesal and coffe but you already have many options to enjoy your Pinoy breakfast.
Have you ever wondered whether coffee and bread will satisfy someone’s stomach for breakfast? Yes, they will do because Filipinos still have morning merienda before lunch. So bread and coffee will suffice in the early morning.
Eggs
These are a very common Filipino breakfast. You can have it boiled, scrambled, or sunny side up. You can also add in tomatoes or whatever vegetable you want and make an omelet. Sometimes, mothers would even cook and prepare these eggs as their school children’s lunch. These eggs are best paired with steamed rice. They can also be eaten with garlic fried rice or sinangag.
Eggs can also be served with other “ulam” or meat. Hence, we have the silog meals. Silog is the short term used to describe the combination of sinangag (or sinaing) and itlog (egg), specifically sunny side up egg. There are different dishes under this kind of meal. The difference among silog meals can be found on what is served with sinangag. You have tapsilog, hotsilog, longsilog, tocilog, cornsilog, and bangsilog. A place that specializes in such meals is known as tapsihan or tapsilugan. We will describe each of these meals separately. But, yes, eggs are an important component of a traditional Filipino breakfast. They are almost staple!
Dried salted fish and tomatoes (tuyo and kamatis)
When you were young, you were also probably disgusted at the thought of tuyo or dried salted fish in the morning. Tuyo has been associated with poor economic status. Hence, you were so ashamed of telling your classmates you had tuyo for breakfast. But who cares now? Tuyo is one of the favorite breakfast meals. Coupled with tomatoes and egg, this set of meal is to crave for! Isn’t fried tuyo dipped in vinegar (with chili!)+ sinangag/steamed rice a great breakfast meal? Imagine the crunch of that sun-dried fish meeting vinegar. Yum! Tuyo is usually served during breakfast, but it is also being served during other meals, such as lunch or dinner, or during snacks; it also tastes good when paired with champorado!
In addition to tuyo, we also have smoked fish or tinapa and
Salted egg and tomatoes
Corned beef with potatoes or eggs
Tapsilog
As part of the silog family, this meal is composed of marinated beef or tapa, egg, and fried rice. What makes this meal tasty is the soy sauce marinade used to cure the beef.
Hotsilog
Longsilog
We, Filipinos, have our own version of sausages, that is, longganisa. Longsilog meal is consisted of this native sausage, egg, and fried rice. Longganisa tastes differently among regions. We have different types of longganisa. Among the famous ones are longganisang Lucban and
Tocilog
If we have our Pinoy-style sausage, we also have our counterpart for bacon, that is, tocino, which is sweetened pork. Tocilog is made up of this cured pork, egg, and fried rice.
Cornsilog
Bangsilog
Spamsilog
How about serving your sunny side up egg with another canned good? Here is spamsilog, which is composed of Spam (a known brand of canned meat), fried rice, and egg. Who does not love this meat? It
Lugaw
Arroz caldo
Taho
Sweet, warm, smooth. We love taho! We always wait for the kuya vendor in the neighborhood to have our cup or glass of this silken tofu with tapioca and brown sugar
Do you want a healthy version of ground pork omelet or patty? Here is the best alternative! Eggplant omelet or tortang talong. Although vegetable-based, this is equally tasty as the meat counterpart.
